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Got A Minute? with George Floyd

Published: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, February 3, 2014 at 4:54 p.m.

Got A Minute? with George Floyd

Age: 45

Lives in: Arden

Hometown: Rogersville, Tenn.

Family: Wife, Robin; daughter, Ali, 14; son, John, 10

Floyd is director of physical therapy at Blue Ridge Bone and Joint Physical Therapy Clinic in Hendersonville. He is currently pursuing his annual recertification in Active Release Techniques, a patented, soft-tissue system/movement-based massage technique. Floyd was the first PT in Western North Carolina to be certified in ART.

What is ART, and who can benefit?

I think it's the best soft-tissue technique that I know of in 18 years as a physical therapist. It's a method where you take whatever tissue is dysfunctional, you work on trying to release the adhesions at that specific spot, but you also work on everything around it. The difference, I think, between it and many other techniques is how specific it is.

Everybody can benefit. Everybody, because of what it does. What it's doing is you're working on releasing the tissue and any tissue that's restrictive, so I would say with athletes it tends to work extremely fast. If you've got someone who comes in that's fairly acute, of whatever age, it's almost a miracle.

With other people, because they've been putting up with it for weeks or months because they're hoping it goes away, it may take a little longer. Even post-surgical, where you've got the surgery but you've also got all the compensation that comes along with that, that's where it comes into play, too. The biomechanics is also good, because where you feel the pain may not be the source of the pain. So I think that was one of the first techniques that really looks at how everything comes into play.

How comprehensive is the training for certification?

The training is much more intense than other techniques. Most of the techniques that you learn after school, you learn in weekend courses. ART is the only one that I know of where you fail if you don't pass. Of the three major segments — upper extremity, lower extremity and spine — of three of those tests, the two guys right before me failed, and so they had to go through the whole thing again. The advantage of that is that people that are certified, you can be sure that they are of a certain quality.

Where did you earn your initial certification?

The initial certification was in New Jersey in 2001.

Who started ART?

Dr. Mike Leahy. He's a chiropractor genius in Colorado, and he's now kind of expanded to doing this all over the nation, and he's even doing classes in Europe. For me, as far as all the soft-tissue gurus, he is probably the most humble that I know of, and I would rank him, in my opinion, as the world's best.

Besides the clinics where you've worked, where else have you practiced the technique?

I helped out at Ironman Florida in Panama City a few years ago doing ART.

What are your favorite activities when you're not working?

Probably golf and running. I really enjoy golf with either friends or my father-in-law, and I've been doing a lot more running, getting ready for the Assault on Black Rock, which is a good run in Sylva on March 22 — the day after I turn 46. For me, anyway, it's a very challenging run; it's pretty much just up and down the mountain, as hard as you can go. I did it last year with some friends, and out of 62 people I think only 11 made it last year (within the time cutoff).

And just doing stuff with the family. We just got bikes for everybody this past year, which is fun. The kids are old enough now where we can actually do some real stuff and it's really fun.

<p><b>Got A Minute? with George Floyd</b></p><p><b>Age:</b> 45</p><p><b>Lives in:</b> Arden</p><p><b>Hometown:</b> Rogersville, Tenn.</p><p><b>Family:</b> Wife, Robin; daughter, Ali, 14; son, John, 10</p><p>Floyd is director of physical therapy at Blue Ridge Bone and Joint Physical Therapy Clinic in Hendersonville. He is currently pursuing his annual recertification in Active Release Techniques, a patented, soft-tissue system/movement-based massage technique. Floyd was the first PT in Western North Carolina to be certified in ART.</p><p><b>What is ART, and who can benefit?</b></p><p>I think it's the best soft-tissue technique that I know of in 18 years as a physical therapist. It's a method where you take whatever tissue is dysfunctional, you work on trying to release the adhesions at that specific spot, but you also work on everything around it. The difference, I think, between it and many other techniques is how specific it is.</p><p>Everybody can benefit. Everybody, because of what it does. What it's doing is you're working on releasing the tissue and any tissue that's restrictive, so I would say with athletes it tends to work extremely fast. If you've got someone who comes in that's fairly acute, of whatever age, it's almost a miracle. </p><p>With other people, because they've been putting up with it for weeks or months because they're hoping it goes away, it may take a little longer. Even post-surgical, where you've got the surgery but you've also got all the compensation that comes along with that, that's where it comes into play, too. The biomechanics is also good, because where you feel the pain may not be the source of the pain. So I think that was one of the first techniques that really looks at how everything comes into play.</p><p><b>How comprehensive is the training for certification?</b></p><p>The training is much more intense than other techniques. Most of the techniques that you learn after school, you learn in weekend courses. ART is the only one that I know of where you fail if you don't pass. Of the three major segments — upper extremity, lower extremity and spine — of three of those tests, the two guys right before me failed, and so they had to go through the whole thing again. The advantage of that is that people that are certified, you can be sure that they are of a certain quality.</p><p>Where did you earn your initial certification?</p><p>The initial certification was in New Jersey in 2001.</p><p>Who started ART?</p><p>Dr. Mike Leahy. He's a chiropractor genius in Colorado, and he's now kind of expanded to doing this all over the nation, and he's even doing classes in Europe. For me, as far as all the soft-tissue gurus, he is probably the most humble that I know of, and I would rank him, in my opinion, as the world's best. </p><p>Besides the clinics where you've worked, where else have you practiced the technique?</p><p>I helped out at Ironman Florida in Panama City a few years ago doing ART.</p><p>What are your favorite activities when you're not working?</p><p>Probably golf and running. I really enjoy golf with either friends or my father-in-law, and I've been doing a lot more running, getting ready for the Assault on Black Rock, which is a good run in Sylva on March 22 — the day after I turn 46. For me, anyway, it's a very challenging run; it's pretty much just up and down the mountain, as hard as you can go. I did it last year with some friends, and out of 62 people I think only 11 made it last year (within the time cutoff).</p><p>And just doing stuff with the family. We just got bikes for everybody this past year, which is fun. The kids are old enough now where we can actually do some real stuff and it's really fun.</p>